Sustainability Versus Efficiency of Manufacturing Process: Structured Comparison of Two High Precision Fine Grinding Processes

Abstract

The efficient and ecological handling of resources becomes more and more important in today’s manufacturing processes since the global demand for energy as well as raw materials is increasing consistently in the modern world. On the other hand, customers’ demands need to be satisfied. Therefore, the optimisation of production processes regarding efficient and ecological aspects as well as market demands is very important, especially in case of the manufacturing of high precision products, where the market environment is highly turbulent. In this paper two high precision fine grinding processes are compared concerning their efficiency and ecological friendliness. Therefore, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as well as Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) is used for comparison purposes. In case of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) material flows like grinding disc degradation, the consumption of cutting fluid and the material loss during the grinding process are taken into account such that the exposure for human and environment can be compared and analysed. Considering DEA and TOPSIS, the efficiency of the production process as well as demands of the market are evaluated. Therefore, the surface topography characterised by the target variables roughness (Ra, Rz) and gloss as well as the production time is analysed. In this study, two grinding processes are analysed using three different methods enabling an evaluation from different points of view. The comparison between the two high precision fine grinding processes is carried out within the case study "fine grinding of cutlery".